Thursday, July 22, 2010

What Indian Territory Freedmen Have in Common With Shirley Sherrod

This woman who’s fathered was murdered by the Klan found when she was a young woman, Ms. Sherrod found herself in the middle of a high profile political scam by detractors of the Obama administration based totally on lies and distortions of the truth. This distortion of the truth could easily describe the lies perpetuated by the leaders of the Five Slave Holding Tribes known as the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek (Muscogee) and Seminole Nations along with most notably the National Congress of American Indians.

Ms. Sherrod found it in her heart to overcome her own failings as it related to her ability to accept responsibility when asked to assist a “white” farmer in keeping his family farm. Ms Sherrod was conflicted with the dilemma of doing nothing for the man and his family based on her personal history of racial injustice and the murder of her father by whites when she was a young woman living in the south.

This story is reflective of the story of Indian Territory Freedmen and their descendants regarding the lies being told today and throughout history that would see the freedmen and their descendants being ostracized by the tribes that held the freedmen in slavery and later removing them from the citizenship rolls based on their "African" descent.

This unfortunate history demonstrates just how divisive race can be in this country and specifically among the Five Slave Holding Tribes. Historically the tribes resisted the inclusion of their former slaves and descendants once they were emancipated and this attitude has continued to contemporary times.

The Chickasaw nation has been the most racist in it’s attitudes towards the freedmen and their descendants based on the premise that if allowed in the nation they posed a threat to take over the leadership of the nation and cause some kind of harm that comes with their inclusion in the history and body politic of that nation.

The Creek nation is also guilty of posing as an aggrieved “minority” only to see them oppose the rights of Freedmen descendants from enjoying their rights based on a treaty for their citizenship. Like the Creek, Seminole and Cherokee nations the Choctaw tribe adopted their former slaves and descendants as citizens with the rights and privileges as such but today, they tell a different story concerning the rights of these descendants today.

This effort by the Five Slave Holding tribes is similar to the Shirley Sherrod story with the respect that unless you hear all of the story you walk away thinking you know the truth of this situation and support statements like those coming from the leader of the Cherokee nation and the National Congress of the American Indian that “non-Indians” should not be members of “Indian” tribes:

Like the Sherrod incident, we have a teachable moment in Indian Country that should allow reasonable people to take the time to digest all of the facts concerning the history of African chattel slavery among the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek (Muscogee) and Seminole Indians.